Baseball practice fielding bat



7, 1962 1.. F. BREITBACH 3,@48,399

BASEBALL PRACTICE FIELDING BAT Filed April 26, 1961 INVENTOR.

LOU/5 E BEE/TEACH A T TOR/V5 Y United States Patent Ofiice ddiififihh Patented Aug. 7, 1962 3,tl48,39 BASEBALL PRACTICE FIELDING BAT Louis F. Breitbach, 2608 A Ave. NE, Qedar Rapids, Iowa Filed Apr. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 105,599 1 (Ilaim. (Cl. 27372) This invention relates to recreational equipment and more particularly to a bat for use in baseball fielding practice.

As is well known in the art, the game of baseball customarily requires a ball that is, of course, sphere shaped, and a hat that is of tapering circular cross section with the diameter of the larger, or contacting, portion being usually about the same or slightly larger than the diameter of the ball. This means, of course, that unless the ball is struck by a game bat (as described hereinabove) substantially squarely so that the ball is caused to be reflected, or hit in the opposite direction, the areas of contact will be such that the ball is merely deflected and usually thereafter traverses an undesired path.

During batting practice, it is desirable for a player to use a conventional bat since he must do so when batting during a game and this enables him to gain experience in batting under game conditions as to equipment. The shape of a conventional, or game, bat, however, makes it more diflicult for the played to gain the necessary practice needed for satisfactory fielding during a game since fielding practice generally requires that a ball be repeatedly batted with high accuracy to a variety of spots within reach of the player so that he can experience fielding all types of batted balls.

While placement of a ball during fielding practice by a batter might not be an insurmountable problem to one quite adept at batting, it is often quite a problem to anyone not so adept and, as a result, valuable practice time is often lost while someone retrieves a batted ball that has gone awry. Moreover, if the fielding practice should be conducted in a limited area, such as, for example, in a back yard or in a gymnasium, it is highly important that control of the ball be rigidly maintained to avoid damage.

For fielding practice, it is important that the practice ball used be as nearly like the ball to be used in the game as possible. It would therefore be undesirable, for example, to substitute for practice a resilient and easily deformable ball instead of a normally nonresilient baseball, or, in fact, to use any other type of ball since game conditions would not be best maintained.

Therefore, to maintain game conditions for the fielder during practice, while at the same time permitting vastly improved accuracy in placement of a batted ball by one not necessarily skilled in the art of batting, a new and unique bat has been invented, as described herein, which bat is quite easy to use effectively and has the added advantage of virtually eliminating shock normally encountered when striking a baseball with a hat.

The practice fielding bat of this invention may be read ily utilized to hit a ball substantially straight upwardly a predetermined distance so that a catcher, for example, may gain the necessary practice needed to field this particular type of hit ball. Heretofore, using a conventional bat, this type of hit ball has been most difficult to approximate in practice.

In addition, a very short fly ball can be readily and accurately hit with the practice fielding hat of this invention and this is of particular benefit to one just beginning to learn how to field a baseball and greatly reduces the danger of injury due to a poorly hit ball.

As will be appreciated from the weight and nonresilient provide a satisfactory solution since the principles are entirely different and would lead to rapid destruction of such equipment.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a fielding practice bat that is economical to produce, yet is durable and therefore capable of long service in hitting a baseball for fielding purposes.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a fielding practice bat which can be used for highly accurate placement of a baseball even by relatively unskilled batters.

It is another object of this invention to provide a fielding practice bat having a spn'ngy' membrane for striking a baseball and absorbing the shock associated therewith, which membrane is in contact with said ball for a relatively long period of time to thereby better control the resulting course of the ball when propelled from the bat and, in addition, virtually eliminating any chance of undesirably defiecting the ball.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent to one skilled in the art as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claim, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed invention may be submitted as come within the scope of the claim.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one complete example of the embodiment of this invention constructed according therein to the best mode so far. devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of the practice fielding bat of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross section view taken through line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the springy membrane per se; and

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing a baseball being hit with the practice fielding hat of this invention.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals have been used for like characters throughout, the numeral 5 refers generally to the practice fielding bat of this invention, which bat may include a solid handle portion 7, a loop portion 9, and a springy membrane 11.

Handle portion 7 is preferably of substantially circular cross section and is of such a diameter so as to be easily gripped as in the case of a conventional baseball bat. If desired, handle portion 7 may taper toward a knob 13 at one end in the same manner as does a conventional baseball bat. Handle portion 7 may be of wood, metal, or any similar rigid, nonresilient material.

Loop portion 9 is fixed to handle portion 7 at the end opposite to knob 13. Loop 9 may be of wood, metal, or similar rigid, nonresilient material, and the loop may be. integrally formed with handle portion 7. As shown in the drawings, loop portion 9 preferably has a much smaller cross section than does handle portion 7, and may be of square cross section having an inner wall surface 15, an outer, or side, wall surface 17, a front wall surface 19, and a back wall surface 21. It is to be appreciated, of course, that loop portion 9 could be of other cross section, for example circular or rectangular, without departing from the scope of the hereindisclosed invention.

Loop portion 9 preferably encloses an area several times larger than a baseball (as illustrated in FIGURE 4), and is also preferably longer than it is wide, as shown in FIGURE 1. It is to be appreciated, however, that the hollow, or empty, area enclosed by loop portion 9 may, along with the dimensions of the area itself, be varied and the hereindisclosed invention is not meant to be limited to any one enclosed area.

Spring membrane 11 may be made of rubber, or similar material, and is preferably relatively thin (as shown in FIGURE 2) so as to be readily stretched. As shown in FIGURE 3, membrane 11 may have a solid central portion, or section, 25 and a plurality of ears, or flaps, 27, which flaps are spaced about the periphery of central section 25 and extend outwardly therefrom so that the outer edges of said ears define the periphery of the entire mem brane. Ears 27 are attached to central section 25, and are preferably integrally formed therewith.

Central section 25 may have an area substantially equal to that enclosed by loop portion 9 so that the membrane, when in place in contact with front wall surface 19 of loop portion 9 (as shown in the drawings), will cover the enclosed area with the periphery of central section 25 engaging front wall surface 19 substantially around the entire surface thereof.

It is the purpose of ears 27 to provide suitable means for attaching membrane 11 to loop portion 9. It has been found that it is best if ears 27 are attached to back wall 21 of loop portion 9 to prevent cutting or otherwise damaging the membrane and to prevent undesirable detachment of fastening means 3 1.

Fastening means 31 may consist of fiat headed rivets 33, fixed to back wall 21, and a like number of apertures 35 in ears 27, which apertures are large enough to be stretched over the head of a rivet 33 when the membrane is initially attached to the loop portion. It is to be appreciated, of course, that other fastening means 31, such as snaps for example, could be used in lieu of rivets 33 and apertures 35.

In utilizing the fielding practice bat of this invention, a batter conceivably could hold and swing the bat as he would any other bat, but it has been found more preferable to hold the bat in one hand to thereby exercise the greatest control over the course of a hit ball. The batter, when swinging, should be sure that only membrane 11 (and not loop portion 9) makes contact with the ball to assure accuracy. The ball (designated as 39 in FIGURE 4) is struck by the front face 41 of membrane 11 and the membrane immediately stretches rearwardly, as shown in FIGURE 4, and absorbs the shock of contact.

The recovery of membrane 11, aided by the batters swing, will propel the ball forwardly from the bat. However, since the ball and bat are in contact for a relatively long period of time, greater control of the ball is attained by the batter and as a result he can quite easily control the ball and place it with high accuracy even though the batter is not ordinarily too proficient with a conventional bat. Moreover, deflection of a ball is no problem when using the practice fielding hat of this invention due to the nature of membrane 11.

In view of the foregoing, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that this invention provides a baseball practice fielding bat which, although simple and inexpensive in construction, nevertheless provides a durable means for repeatedly hitting a baseball and can be used effectively by one not necessarily adept at batting to attain a high degree of accuracy in hitting a ball to a specific predetermined spot.

What is claimed as my invention is:

A baseball fielding practice bat for hitting a baseball to a fielder with great accuracy in placement, said practice fielding bat comprising: a substantially rigid member having a handle portion and a substantially loop-shaped portion at one end of said handle portion and enclosing an area greater in cross section than a baseball, said loopshaped portion having a front wall surface, a side wall surface and other surfaces comprising a back wall surface and an inner wall surface; a resilient springy membrane having an area greater than the area enclosed by said loop-shaped portion, said membrane having a periphery, a central portion that extends across said enclosed area, and a portion between said periphery and said central portion that engages said front wall surface and said side wall surface of said loop-shaped portion; and membrane fastening means engaging the periphery of said membrane and one of said other wall surfaces of said loopshaped portion for securely fastening said membrane in place.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,612,920 Hillstrom Jan. 4, 1927 2,788,607 Ward Apr. 16, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 8,783 Great Britain 1886 1,643 Great Britain 1894 204,113 Great Britain Sept. 20, 1923 

